Listening With Our Eyes by Peter Caligiuri

“And he saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. And he said, ‘Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them.’” (Luke 21:2-3 ESV)

Three years ago, right after our move, we hadn’t met many neighbors yet, so when I saw the teenage boy pull in the driveway across the street I called over, “Hey good morning!” hoping to strike up a conversation. Surprisingly, he didn’t even turn his head to look at me, and headed into his house. I was a bit put off and later grumbled about that “unfriendly boy across the street” to my wife. Nancy paused to let me finish griping, then she said, “He’s deaf, you know. He can lip read, but he had to be able to see your face.” In an instant, not only did my attitude completely change, but I felt pretty silly to boot.

Have you ever thought how we who are hearing sometimes don’t communicate well because we don’t really look at people? Maybe, like my lip-reading neighbor, we need to look closely at the people around us. They not only focus on the words formed by our lips but also on our facial expressions and body language as they work to get the whole picture about someone.

In today’s verse, we discover that Jesus watched people closely and read far more from their actions than their words. He heard rich men loudly proclaiming their generosity as they gave large gifts, but this widow, in a silent moment of sacrifice, captured His heart. He could see by her clothing that she was poor, and in quiet demeanor her humility, but more than both of these, Jesus saw her faith.

If we ask God to teach us, we will be able to hear more than people’s words. We will hear them with God’s ears when we learn to listen with our eyes!

Peter and Nancy Caligiuri

Peter and his wife, Nancy, have been married for 48 years and have two sons, six lively grandsons and one wonderful granddaughter! They live near Tampa Florida where they are members of Generations Christian Church. Peter’s blog is located at http://www.praise2worship.net/